Tweety Bird's Long Journey

It’s funny who our heroes are these days. We idolize drug addicts in the entertainment field and in professional sports. We turn war heroes into villains (General Petraeus).

In Third World countries it is even worse. There is the patron saint of drug lords, Jesus Malverde. And they even have Santo Toribio Romo, patron saint of illegal aliens.

So you shouldn’t be shocked to hear that a radio host in California who goes by the name “Piolin” (Spanish for Tweety Bird) has become a naturalized citizen. Real name Eduardo Sotelo.

Yes, he got his application in right before the fees went up. (A nice touch, don’t you think?)

Now, you and I might think that his long journey began at the U S Embassy in Mexico City, waiting in line years ago to get a work visa. He then got his green card and waited patiently for his chance to become a citizen, all the while making sure he lived a crime-free life so he wouldn’t disqualify himself.

Well, Piolin’s story isn’t like that at all. His real story makes him even more of a hero to Latinos everywhere.

His story began when he came into the United States as a teenager in 1986, hidden in the trunk of a car. And he collected cans along the side of the road to help his family. And his family lived in a garage. He even got fired from his jobs because he was illegal. Finally, he got a work permit, but the details of how he did that are a bit cloudy.

And need I explain that he was one of the people encouraging illegals to take to the streets in March of 2006 and subsequent rallies.

A real example of someone who walked the path to citizenship.

So, even using the low numbers of 12 million illegal aliens, it means that half of the 37 million foreign-born people living in the United States started out as illegal aliens (12 million plus another 7 million who have been granted some form of amnesty since 1986). Is anyone besides me troubled with that fact? Do you even care that 19 million people from other coutries simply invited themselves to come here?

And does it trouble you that we are glorifying someone who beat the system and incites anarchy? Is this the new American Dream success story?
I already have dibs on the movie rights. Tom Cruise will play Tweety. Rock Star Obama will do a cameo as himself.